fence building
 

About to indulge myself in building about 400 Ft of wooden privacy fence for my new home that I purchased. Its a fairly basic concept. Dig your holes, set your posts, come back next day and install laterals, then boards. Anyone have any words of wisdom from personal experience? And dont tell me to hire a professional lol. Already have two air compressors, two nail guns, and skill saws.

Hire a professional to set poles and use screws instead of nails.

Words of wisdom from personal experience if I ever seen

Its not hard. Gates are the toughest part. Take your time and youll be fine

Ding Ding Ding we have a winner!

I did almost 5 times that and one gate. Easy if you have you g bones/muscles. Rent what you can (stines) and ask for help (stines).

Star head Screws! Get a level and of course rent an auger. Do it in sections and run string from corner post. Gates suck bad. I hired someone for mine.

All the above is great advice. Don't wait too long between setting the posts and installing laterals and boards. Posts will warp if you wait too long. Years ago I decided to build the fence in stages so I could pay cash as I went. I put up the posts and by the time I got enough money for the boards, my posts had twisted.

Three rows of laterals, screws or decking staples, build gates with top rail from chainlink fence and screw pickets to it

At the bottom use what we call rot boards. Run them level at the bottom perpendicular to your posts so you don't have to rely on a string for level at bottom. Just set your pickets on top of the rot board and screw or nail it. Then if you have rot at the bottom you just change out one rotten 1x6 and your pickets are above it. I promise you this is the only way to go.

Use 10' 4x4's for posts. Auger holes. 3.5" Torx head screws for 2x4 stringers. Use three stringers. 1.5" Torx head screws for fence boards. Buy a gate kit from Lowes. It works wonders. I built one this way and it withstood Rita.


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Get you a 4 foot level to use to be sure the post are straight. The level can also be used to make sure the fence boards are set straight. Leave about 1/8 inch gap between the fence boards....this allows for a few slightly crooked boards.

I used a string set at the top of where I wanted to top of the boards. Use a string level that attaches to the string to get the string set level."

A "one' person augur is only ok for a few holes.....then it is a 2 person augur. They are heavy and will really get hard to use. I found a post hole digger was easier to use. Have measuring stick to use while digging the holes or put a mark on the post hole digger. Lay out a string to keep the holes straight and evenly spaced, and then use a string to line up the post while setting them.

To install the stringers......if you are doing this alone, make you 2 support boards to hold the 2 x 4 stringer up while you nail/screw to the post. Support boards can be a 1 x 4 about 10 inches longer than the height of the stringer. Then nail a short piece of 2 x 4 about 3 inches from the top. This length allows the support board to be on an angle to hold the stringer next to the post.

Make 3 sets of support boards......one set for each height.

Buy about 20 or 30 extra fence boards to allow for some split or cracked boards. The store should give your money back for these bad boards and this keeps you from having to go back to get more.

Use all galvanized hardware. Be sure to get the brackets that connect the ends of the stringer boards together.

Mixing concrete.......doing it in the hole is easier and faster. Add about a quart of water and pour in some concrete. Use a 1/2 piece of PVC pipe or Re-bar about 5 feet long to mix this up good using an up and down motion.

Then repeat process until hole is filled. Add enough concrete until the concrete is about 3/4 inch above the ground. This will keep the water away from the post when it rains. Have a small trowel or piece of wood to use to smooth off the concrete and slope it away from the post.

Gates......anything wider than 40 inches needs 3 big hinges that are screwed into a 2x4. When placing the gate in position to connect the hinges, support [use wood blocks] the outer end of the gate about 1/2 inch high. This allows for the gate to sag some after installing the hinges and still be level.

I rented a stand on post hole digger. It was made by Bobcat and it had tracks on it. You drove it to the hole dug your hole and moved on. Much quicker than a two man auger. 400' you going to need at least 50 holes. You may even want to rent a small bobcat with an auger for that. While you at it see it they have the concrete mixer attachment.

Defintiely put 3 runners
Don't put Galvanized Hardware in pressure treated wood, i used some lag bolts for my runners and almost all of the lag bolts rotted out.
If you going to screw the boards on get a brad nailer, stick a nail in each runner then come back and screw it. Much quicker.
Torque head screws, make sure you get the one that are coated for use in pressure treated wood.

Stagger your runners so the breaks of tge boards end on opposite 4x4's . Also consider using a 6x6 or 8x8 to break up really long runs or at corners and for gate posts

All is good advice for sure, I would make sure I screwed it .. That is from experience

Also make sure after it's built that you protect it and maintain it properly .. When I bought my house the fence had been up for a few years and it hadn't properly been taken care of, and it was a headache till I tore it down

Definatly use the 8x8 for gate post. Be sure you check level on about every 6th fence board that you put up.

And just to stop anyone, especially the wife, from calling you a dumb***, call and get utilities marked before you dig.


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Lol

I used 8x8'x at the corners and the ends, still holding strong.

Small gates are easy. Just build the fence, install the hardware, and then cut the runners.

On the fence, make sure your boards are tight. They will shrink.

I also agree with screws instead of nail.


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This and hope they marked it well...I help a buddy of mine who builds a lot of fences and decks on the side. We hit a gas main about 3 feet from where the yellow marking line was...lol talk about get your heart rate going.

Build your gate like this...If you use wood for frame it will eventulally sag...this will never sag!

Dont say never Seeing Spots. My fence to my field has 6" pipe for my gates to hang on that will sag in the middle of the summer from all of the heat.

How wide is gate and does it have gussets?? How many cross bars?

didn't see it mentioned anywhere or if you already know but, make sure you have enough post in the ground and a layer of a few inches of rocks under it so its not standing on dirt. im told doing that lets the post last longer before it rots.

I think the rule is 1 foot in the ground for every two feet above it and one 80 lb. bag of cement for each post but I like to put two bags on each gate post so it adds strength.

im no expert on it. im sure someone knows the exact formula

It's two gates that are 8' each built out of 2"x2"x1/8" tubing with cattle panel welded on it. I used the HEAVY DUTY ball bearing hinges. My fence itself is made out of 2-7/8" drill stem pipe that ties into the 6" pipe at a little over 52" tall. The 6" post runs up to about 14' tall where I have 2 2"x12"x20' screwed together connecting the two post. I didn't put gussest because I thought it was stout enough. I'm rethinking that assumption now!

fence building
 

I need to change my gate, I think the guy that built it had one leg 6" shorter than the other, and a roaming eye

Yours ain't sagging anytime soon

Damn. After reading all this, this project just got a lot more expensive. I want to install one of those two door swinging gates so I can have enough room for both boats and a cement truck in the future to get into the back yard so I can pours slab for a new patio. I'm definitely going to look into renting a bobcat, that will save so much time. Thinking about using nail gun to hold boards and coming back with screws.

For the gates use a cattle swing gate like you see in the rodeos and lag bolt 2x4's across top and bottom bar. screw boards to 2x4s. will never sag. I did this after fighting gate for first 10 years. Havent had to do anything since did this way . going on 10 years of maintenance free. Do your holes now while ground is moist dont wait til summer when its hard

I built mine in october...all materials from home depot and got 10% off for using HD card. 300 ft triple runner with 2x4s, standard pine pickets, 4x4x 8 posts, gates I used 4x6x8 posts, 1 inch square tubing all welded as frames for gates (1 16 ft double, 2 small walk thrus) with lag bolt style hinges, 80lb bags of quikcrete (1 bag per 2 holes except on gates and corners) and it cost me about 8-9$ a foot. Also used my buddys tractor with auger to drill holes.

When I help him with fence depending on materials price at the time and gate numbers/size he usually charges about 11-13$ a foot.

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Oh and unless someone wants otherwise we use 2 in staples on everything never an issue

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Ring shanked nails in nail gun. You will appreciate it after you burn out yourself & drill with screws.

Make sure you seal them boards w/paint or stain. Ya see, my wife (miss google) knows everything and she made the suggestion to do just that, Well I didn't so now
I'm replacing boards and yep she did call me a dumb**$! Really sux!

Really?? Like water seal? Never heard of that. How long did it take them to rot?

Is cedar worth the extra $$?

No it will all turn gray in less than a couple years

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Damn when I saw the thread title I thought he wanted to fence off his favorite fishing spot. Bout the only way to make it fit in this forum. Lol